


Pieces Together

by carolinablu85



Category: As the World Turns
Genre: Comfort, Earthquakes, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-01
Updated: 2012-03-01
Packaged: 2017-10-31 22:40:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/349110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolinablu85/pseuds/carolinablu85
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Noah was good at disaster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pieces Together

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the prompt "Earthquakes" from the nuke_anon comm on LJ. Thanks for reading!

Noah was good at disaster.   
  
He was used to it. In his life so far, he had lived through two hurricanes and a tornado, a flood, even a three-alarm fire. Also, his father. Coming out. Getting kidnapped, shot. Dying. Blindness. Brain surgery. Broken heart.   
  
If Noah was totally honest with himself (and most times he was, if only just for punishment), then he could admit his life was pretty much a disaster. So, all in all, he was used to it. He could handle it.   
  
But, okay, earthquakes were fucking scary.    
  
The first time one hit, during his first month in LA, he slept through it. Ameera and her friends were quick to point out the irony- Insomnia Boy slept through the 4-pointer. He was secretly relieved he hadn’t felt it, and instead hid behind his embarrassment at their teasing. It was easier that way.   
  
The next two? They had barely rattled the plates in his kitchen. They’d been over almost before he’d realized what was going on. He’d grabbed his free ‘Earthquake Survivor Beer’ at the crappy dive bar on his block and gone back to work on the film.    
  
The November quake was different. Way, way different. By the time it was over, by the time the smashed glasses and camera lens had been swept off the floor and into the trash... Noah realized the ground was done shaking but his hands still were.   
  
So maybe he didn’t like earthquakes.    
  
He didn’t say that, of course. When Ameera and her friends joked about it, when his Assistant Director whined about replacing the camera lens, and when Lily called “just to check in” after she saw it on the news, he kept the smile on his face and the shrug across his shoulders. Everything was always fine. He was always fine.   
  
He was good at disaster, he reminded himself.   
  
It was his role in the universe, right? He was good at keeping his head down and soldiering on when things fell apart, when the world shifted. Luke... Luke had always been the one to try to put things back together. Glue and duct tape and sheer determination, Luke pieced things back together. He didn’t sweep them up and away, start anew. He tried to fix what was there.   
  
It was some time between Christmas and New Years that he managed to piece Noah back together, finding all those shards of himself that Noah had scattered. The ones Noah thought he had thrown away. Luke showed up on his LA doorstep with a duffel bag, a nervous smile, and the glue that Noah needed to get him- them- back together.   
  
And for awhile, Noah forgot to be scared.   
  
It as late May, almost June, almost summer. One of those rare, calm days when neither of them had anything planned. They were on the couch, Noah supporting both his laptop and Luke’s feet across his legs.   
  
“I’ve been thinking,” Luke dug his heel slightly harder into Noah’s thigh.   
  
“Hm?” Noah raised an eyebrow, though his focus stayed on the computer. He was editing a scene. Luke wouldn’t dare bring up anything important while he was editing a scene. He knew Noah’s brain went into a coma when-   
  
“I think we should get a dog.”   
  
“What?” So much for that.   
  
Luke grinned, victorious. “A dog. Get one. We should.”   
  
“You sound like Yoda,” Noah sighed, putting his laptop on the floor, knocking his knee into Luke’s, giving him his full atention. “When did you decide this?”   
  
“Like two years ago,” he shrugged. “But I remembered this morning. I think we could raise a puppy together. And it’ll give me someone else to talk to on those long days you’re stuck on a set. Plus, hey- it’s a puppy. What’s not to love?” He inched a little closer, the tips of his toes on either side of Noah’s hips. “Come on, baby, don’t you think-”   
  
The rumble started quietly, but not so quietly that Noah didn’t hear it right away. By the time it was really going, the tables and couch vibrating around them, Luke’s eyes wide and startled, Noah’s disaster-surviving brain was already taking over.   
  
“Is this an earthquake?” Luke asked, voice somewhere between scared and excited, like a kid about to board their first roller coaster. Noah didn’t really see a need to answer, so instead he pulled Luke up from the couch, over to the doorway leading to their bedroom. “Noah?”   
  
Still no talking. He was more concerned with keeping Luke under the archway, out of danger. He stood behind him, wrapping his arms around tight, bracing one hand on the frame. He hunched his shoulders around Luke’s, trying to cave in on him. Protect him. He couldn’t put things back together, but he could damn well try to stop them from breaking in the first place.    
  
The rumbling gave way to rolling, like waves. Picture frames were bouncing off ledges to the floor, there were crashes in the kitchen, and Noah could hear the beginnings of sirens outside. He curled around Luke even more, closing his eyes and resting his forehead down against Luke’s hair, waiting it out. Breathing deeply, he felt Luke grip his arms tighter and lean into his chest. Against his heart.    
  
Noah counted his breaths in and out, remembered how he used to count the seconds between thunder and lightning as a kid to see how close the storm was. But there was no “between” here. It wouldn’t let up. Never-ending.    
  
“Noah.”   
  
He kept counting.  _10 one-thousand, 11 one-thousand, 12._   
  
“Noah. Baby.”   
  
And then there was that. ‘Baby’ always got to him, he couldn’t help it. Noah opened his eyes slowly. Luke had somehow managed to turn around in his arms, facing him. His elbows were propped up almost on Noah’s shoulders, hands gentle along his face. Everything around them was still. “Yeah?” he finally spoke.   
  
Luke offered a half-smile. “It’s over. You okay?”   
  
Noah turned his head, surveying the damage around them. Not too bad. Salvageable, at least. “Everything looks okay,” he answered. “Just little things broken. Hopefully we-”   
  
“Hey.” Luke’s hand on his face pulled, bringing him back to look at Luke. “No. You. Are  _you_  okay?” His voice stayed light, even as his eyes were laser-sharp. “You look a little, um, pale.”   
  
Which was probably a tactful way of saying he looked  _completely terrified out of his fucking mind._  “I’m fine. Just, you know, startled.” His arms were still around Luke, he realized then. “Are you okay?”   
  
“Deflector,” Luke smirk-accused, stretching up on his toes to kiss him on the nose quickly. “Not a big fan of these things, are you?”   
  
He lifted one shoulder. He wanted to brush it off,  _but Luke wouldn’t want you to do that,_  he reminded himself.  _That’s what screwed you up before._  “They freak me out,” he mumbled.   
  
He could  _feel_  Luke’s exasperated smile, and he was pretty sure if anything would set him off blushing it was this. “The ground was moving on its own, Noah. I’m pretty sure you’re allowed to be freaked out.”   
  
He tried to smile. “First time anyone’s been here to see me do it.” In for a penny, in for a goddamn embarrassing pound right?   
  
Luke was quiet for a moment. Then he kissed him again, quick and light. “Look.” Luke held his hand, held it tightly, and walked cautiously away from the magically safe doorway. Noah, by virtue of the clasped hand, had no choice but to follow. “You did your job, Mayer. It’s okay.”   
  
“My job?”   
  
Luke’s smile was the most brilliantly small smile ever. Like he knew Noah needed exactly that. “I’m safe. I’m okay.” He gave 3 quick tugs on Noah’s hand, bringing him in that much closer. “So I need to do my job now.”   
  
Noah slid into his embrace, their hips aligning in a decidedly un-we-just-survived-something-scary-and-a re-now-having-a-deep-discussion way. “You always do your job,” his smile was more genuine now, both of his hands clasped at the small of Luke’s back.   
  
Luke’s expression faltered for just a second before brightening again. “I try.” He pulled Noah’s head forward and down, pressing first their foreheads, then lips together. Not quite as quick and light this time. “I love you. You’re not going to be alone anymore. You know that, right?”   
  
He kept his eyes closed. “I know.” Because he’d do his best to keep them from breaking ever again. “I love you too.” His arms around Luke, Luke’s around him, they stayed together. Almost swaying to the silence. Enjoying the peace and calmness and the stillness beneath their feet. The fact that they were here. Together. Unbroken.


End file.
